Purpose

Cabinet is recommended to:
 

(1) 
approve the final 2024/25
Local Funding Formula for 5-16 year olds
and note the changes of the Local Funding Formula from
2023/24.

(2) 
Note the 2024/25 individual budget share allocations calculated for
all schools.

(3) 
Note the 2024/25 indicative individual budget shares allocations
calculated for early years providers.

(4) 
Note the 2024/25 indicative High Needs Block funding for mainstream
schools.

(5) 
Note the 2024/25 indicative High Needs Block funding for special
schools.

(6) 
Note the 2024/54 indicative High Needs funding for Special Resource
Provisions.

(7) 
Note the 2024/25 indicative High Needs funding for Alternative
Provision and Pupil Referral Units.

(8) 
Note the 2024/25 indicative place-led funding for Post-16 providers.
 

Content

Cabinet:

(1)           
approved the final 2024/25 Local Funding Formula for
5-16 year olds
at Appendix A1 to the report and note the changes of
the Local Funding Formula from 2023/24 at Appendix A2 to the
report;

(2)           
noted the 2024/25 individual budget share allocations calculated
for all schools of £238.390 million at Appendix B to the
report;

(3)           
noted the 2024/25 indicative High Needs Block funding
for       
mainstream schools of £14.484 million at Appendix C1
to the report;

(4)           
noted the 2024/25 indicative High Needs Block
funding for special schools of £7.5 million for place
funding, £10.102 million top-up funding and £0.690
million special school additional funding at Appendix C2 to the
report;  

(5)           
noted the 2024/25 indicative High Needs funding for
Special Resource Provisions  of
£1.196 million for place funding and £2.155 million
top-up funding at Appendix C3 to the report;

(6)           
noted the 2024/25 indicative High Needs funding for
Alternative Provision and Pupil Referral Units of
£2.518 million for place funding, £0.134
million top-up funding and £0.038 million PRU HN additional
funding at Appendix C4 to the report;

(7)           
noted the 2024/25 indicative place-led funding for
Post-16 providers of £1.608 million at Appendix D to the
report; 

(8)           
noted the 2024/25 indicative individual budget
shares allocations calculated for early years providers at
Appendices E (2 year olds benefit related criteria £2.902
million); F (3&4 Year Olds universal £13.855 million);
and G (3&4 Year Olds Working Families £5.782 million) to
the report; and

(9)           
noted that due to the recent implementation of Free
Early Early years entielment and non availability of previous
census data, ESFA have used their estimate of the number of
families that they think will take up the expanded offer. The DfE
will carry out an additional census in the Summer 2024 term to
capture data on the actual take up of places. As a result no annual
budget estimates have been produced for 9 month to 2 year old
children from working families cohort.
 

Options &
Alternatives Considered

In September 2015 Schools Forum adopted the
following principles to be applied to its funding
decisions:
•        
Transparency
•        
Fairness
•        
Stability
•         Support
for vulnerable students   
 
In October 2019 Schools Forum
noted the direction of travel towards a NFF and asked officers to
model the impact of moving towards NFF funding figures over a
transitionary period. A task and finish group considered several
detailed models and recommended the adoption of the NFF factors and
rates in 2020-21, coupled with raising the MFG to the then new
upper limit of +1.84%. The high MFG protected schools from the
negative effect of any redistribution flowing from the adoption of
NFF factor rates, while allowing some gains to feed
through.
 
These proposals were adopted by Schools Forum in November 2019
and confirmed by a consultation in late November 2019.
 
From
2021/22 through to 2024/25 Schools Forum has reaffirmed its
decision on the NFF together with using the maximum level of MFG
available. This sharing of resources is demonstrated by Waltham
Forest having the sixth highest proportion nationally of Schools
Block allocated through the MFG in 2023/24.
 

Year

MFG

Net

As % of Schools Block

2019/20

0%

£0.289m

0.14%

2020/21

1.63%

£7.356m

3.16%

2021/22

2.0%

£6.050m

2.8%

2022/23

2.0%

£6.304m

2.9%

2023/24

0.5%

£4.722m

2.1%

 
Schools Forum
establishes Task and Finish Groups to meet with officers to
consider funding options in detail, often reporting back to Schools
Forum with recommendations.  In
preparation for financial year 2024-25, four task and finish groups
considered:
 

·      
mainstream school contributions to commissioned Alternative
Provision places; 
 

·      
options for moving funding from the Schools Block to the High Needs
Block;
 

·      
the issue of moving to the new Resource Ladder those pupils on the
old Resource Ladder; and
 

·      
the 2024-25 Early Years Block funding including the wider
consultation with all FEEE providers regarding the Early Years
Funding Formula (EYFF) for under 2s, 2, 3 and 4
year-olds and the EYFF hourly payment rates for under 2s, 2,
3 & 4 year-olds.